


He Dreamed of Flowers

by Ficlet-Machine (Wordsmith)



Series: ficlets, drabbles, and other small treats [1]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Character Study, Drabble, Ficlet, M/M, Writing Exercise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-22
Updated: 2016-08-22
Packaged: 2018-08-10 10:48:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7841782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wordsmith/pseuds/Ficlet-Machine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ben and Matt Solo dream of owning a garden. Of flowers, and colour. But they know, for people like them, dreams never come true.</p><p>And then one day, a strange man makes an offer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	He Dreamed of Flowers

Flowers. For some reason they were the true mark of class difference, weren’t they? People always laughed at Ben when he said that, they thought he was joking - after all, what did flowers have to do with anything? Ben should get his sorry arse back to work before he got fired, again. But Ben was serious. His and Matt’s world consisted of little more than mud and sweat, iron and heat, hunger and cold - endless shades of brown and grey. They could barely make enough money to feed themselves, what with their lack of schooling, illiteracy and explosive tempers they were lucky if they had a roof over their heads half the month. Every penny they made went into keeping themselves away from the brink of starvation, to keep enough clothes on their bodies and whole enough shoes on their not to freeze to death in the winter.

And a few streets away from the miserable, drafty, filthy and hopeless world that was their neighbourhood people had gardens. Large, carefully arranged gardens, lush and green, and filled with beautiful flowers in more colours than Ben ever knew existed. He and Matt used to sit high up in a tree overlooking one of these massive gardens hidden behind a high wall, and just look. In the spring they’d look at the slowly spreading green of little seedlings reaching for the sun, and then watch in awe as more and more flowers appeared - planted in different patterns, different shades of colour - some of them seemed to be delivered there. Someone bought all these flowers from somewhere else, because every year, half of them were new types - some of them they’d see again, others never made a a second appearance. 

Someone had enough money to spend that they could pay for flowers that could do nothing but look pretty for a few months before wilting and dying. The twins couldn’t grasp the extent of it. How could so much money exist that someone could do that? They didn’t know, but both of them found themselves helplessly drawn to the swirls and explosions of bloody reds, fiery yellows, bright blues, deep purples, and ethereal pinks - like two moths to a light. It was stupid, and useless, and impossible. They would never any of it. Could never have it. Colour belonged to the people with money, not two outcast orphans with too many dreams and not enough of anything else. It didn’t keep them from dreaming, though, of one day standing on the other side of that wall - being able to study them up close, hold them in the palms of their hands, smell each of their unique scents. Experience a world that had never been for them. One day. 

The garden was always empty, too. No one ever seemed to go there. The flowers just stood there, day in and day out, their short time wasted and ignored.

Except for the day it wasn’t.

Ben was alone that day, Matt - being the slightly more even tempered of the two - had managed to find work at a construction site. A new factory, or something like that. So Ben watched the flowers, so he could tell Matt about them later. And then one day he was just there. A man, a young man. Not much older than Ben himself. 

And suddenly all the flowers were nothing more than dull grey blobs in the background. The red of his hair, the impossibly pale shade of his skin, the angles of his face... He was beauty. Incarnated. 

And he was looking right at Ben, smiling - bright white teeth gleaming as he walked close enough to speak. Ben remained frozen to the spot where he clung to the branch for dear life. 

“You like flowers, don’t you?” he asked.

“Wha-?” Ben couldn’t even manage the whole word, he was too shocked.

“You and your... brother? You like flowers, don’t you?” The other clarified. “You sit here almost everyday. At first i thought you were planning to break in, but I don’t think there’s a burglar in the world who plans for three years. So my guess is on the flowers.”

“I’m- I’m sorry, sir,” Ben sputtered. “We didn’t mean no offense, I swear!”

“None taken. Not a lot of people who appreciate them anymore,” the strange man said, gesturing at the garden. “Would you like to come have a look?”

“A-are you serious?”

“Of course.” 

Oh, Ben was tempted - so tempted. But he would break Matt’s heart if he did this without him. His twin was more important than any flowers.

“T-thank you, sir,” he said. “B-but my brother, I-”

“You want to bring him with you, of course. I’m a twin too. Come back tomorrow, to the front gate. I’ll show you everything.”

“W-why are you doing this, sir? I’m sorry, but... I don’t understand.”

“I don’t know,” the other shrugged. “But I do know that my brother would love to meet you both. He’s the one who told me you come to watch the flowers. He... doesn’t go outside much. The flowers are his. So he can have something beautiful to look at when he can’t be outside.”

“T-thank you, sir!” Ben was practically reeling, but he could understand the need to keep one’s twin happy. He clung to that, trying to keep himself from coming off as a complete idiot. “I will bring him by tomorrow, when he’s finished with work.”

“Of course.” That smile. That smile made his heart beat strangely and his cheeks flush. “I’m Hux, by the way.”

“B-Ben. Ben Solo.”

“Nice to meet you Ben.” He nodded and walked back inside.

Ben scrambled down the tree and hurried home. Matt would be thrilled! He couldn’t wait to tell him! His twin would be able to see and feel the flowers he’d been admiring for so long. For Ben, though, the flowers would never again match up to that red-haired man. Hux. Out of every last life in that garden, he was the most beautiful. Ben couldn’t wait to see him again.


End file.
